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Dreadnought (The Clockwork Century #3)

by Cherie Priest (Goodreads Author)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 3,574 ratings · 451 reviews

Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy’s husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once there, she’ll catch a t...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published September 28th 2010 by Tor Books

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Oct 30, 2010 Sandi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, audiobooks, 2010

Cherie Priest's Dreadnought is set in the same alternate history as Boneshaker but really doesn't connect with it until the last couple of chapters. It's the story of a Confederate Civil War nurse who receives a letter telling her that her husband, a Union soldier, has died. A couple of days later, she receives a telegram telling her that her father is dying and wants to see her. So, she sets off to travel from Virginia to Tacoma to see him for the first time since she was a little girl. (For so...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Adam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-disguised-as-literature, literature-disguised-as-science-fic, spy-vs-spy, steampunkery

I was about to dismiss Cherie Priest and her Clockwork Century series as over hyped, finding them pleasant enough while being slightly confused by enthusiastic praise being heaped on them. But, this final scheduled volume (hopefully there will be more) changes most of my concerns. This is a great adventure with lots action and terrific pacing. There are too many characters with too little differentiating a lot of them and the ending is a bit of a fizzle. The extended Civil War has always been in...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Laurel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Cherie Priest has now entered the category of writers whose works I will buy the day they're released. What I love about all of her work is the characters. They're people I might know. Good, honest if not somewhat flawed people. They work hard, stand up for what is right, and aren't worried about getting their hands dirty. They may also be cranky, reserved, opinionated, or any other number of somewhat negative things. Because they're so believable, I buy in and joyfully follow along with them on...more

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Mar 01, 2011 David Skies rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: firstreads, steampunk

(Received my ARC via Goodreads)

It's all about the journey, not the destination, in Priest's third entry in The Clockwork Universe. A journey undertaken via airship, steamship and the eponymous Dreadnought, a monstrous Union war train carry more guns than the Texas chapter of the NRA. It's a journey with more than its fair share of bumps along the way, true, but it's also a very linear one.

Throughout the voyage battles are fought, unsurprising mysteries revealed, rebel raiders repelled, numero...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Stacey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, steampunk, owned-hardcovers, owned-trades, signed

There are some writers who speak directly to my thought patterns. I love the cadence of their writing, the storyline progression, concepts, characterizations. They write people that reflect a little bit of me – the way I see myself, or the way I want to see myself.

Cherie Priest writes people. Yes, she writes zombies and dirigibles, soldiers, and poison gas... but she also writes deliciously complicated women, who are forced to live up to their potential, whether they want to do it, or not. And...more There are some writers who speak directly to my thought patterns. I love the cadence of their writing, the storyline progression, concepts, characterizations. They write people that reflect a little bit of me – the way I see myself, or the way I want to see myself.

Cherie Priest writes people. Yes, she writes zombies and dirigibles, soldiers, and poison gas... but she also writes deliciously complicated women, who are forced to live up to their potential, whether they want to do it, or not. And maybe they're proud of what they accomplished, or maybe it's just the next thing that happened to them. She might tell us... or not.

Dreadnought is an unusual story. Once again, we're visiting the Clockwork Century by means of an odyssey. Mercy Lynch starts her adventure because somebody asks her, she's tired of where she is at the moment, and she doesn't have a good reason to say no. In fact, she has only the barest of good reasons to say yes.

Most of the time, I prefer my “for fun” novels to have a proportionate beginning, middle and end. Dreadnought is ALL middle. It has a beginning that's little more than a set-up, and a teeny little ending that gives us a teeny bit more ending for one of the characters in Boneshaker (yay!) but in this case, it just works. It's like one of the classic chase movies – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Train Robbery, or Cool Hand Luke.

These are people who drift into quickly unfolding action, and they have to react. Maybe they change and grow, and maybe they don't, but things still happen. At the end you know they have to be changed, they just have to. And like the movies, you might want to know “what happened next,” (well, except for the part where some of the characters are dead, heh,) but still, there was an ending, and it was satisfying, kind of, and when is the next book coming?

Because ultimately, there are just some writers who strike exactly the right chords in your mind, and nearly anything they write becomes pure pleasure to read. For me, Dreadnought strikes those chords. (less)

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Apr 10, 2012 Beth Cato rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: in, 2010, historical, fiction, steampunk, civil-war

This is how to write a non-direct book sequel.[return][return]I read Boneshaker a year ago. It set the background for Priest's Clockwork Century world: A United States where the Civil War has gone on for decades, resulting in advanced steampunk technology. There's also the small matter of a massive drill digging a hole in Seattle that released volcanic gases that turns people into zombies.[return][return]Dreadnought begins on the east coast. Mercy Lynch is a nurse in a Confederate war hospital w...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Rhiannon Ryder rated it 5 of 5 stars

If Boneshaker was a mix of many different genres then I'd have to say Dreadnought was predominently a steampunk western. A sequel of sorts, Dreadnought is the second book in Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century world; and although it doesn't involve any of Boneshaker's charecters until the end, it's main charecter turns out to be Jeremiah Swakhammer's daughter. She's a Red Cross nurse and estranged from Jeremiah, but after hearing he's on his way out, and asking for her, she decides to risk the hig...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Laurie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the second book in Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series, set in an alternative 1800 world of steampunk, airship pirates, zombies and wild inventions. Like the first book, Boneshaker, this book features a strong female protagonist that I immediately took to.

Mercy Lynch, a nurse in a Confederate hospital, gets word that her soldier husband has died at almost the same moment that she gets a message that her long vanished father is very ill and wants to see her- in Seattle. She surprise...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, from-library, scifi, steampunk

I was going to give this a 3 but then I realised that I don't bother reviewing books that are really a 3 - I ignore them and only review those I revile or enjoy.

Why isn't it a solid 4? Is it the world building? No; this is an interesting altUSA where the Civil War is still ongoing after 20 odd years and clockwork and mechanical elements are creeping into the war effort. And zombies, oh yeah. Is it the heroine? Again no; Mercy is a great, feisty but not unbelievably skilled/talented/strong etc w...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Fussfehler rated it 2 of 5 stars

After the first few chapters I thought I was going to love this book for its eye for detail and its interesting main character, Mercy Lynch, a nurse serving at a Confederate army hospital in Richmond. She has just received word that her husband, a Kentuckian who had been serving in the Union army, has died in a Confederate prison, and her father from whom she had been exchanged since early childhood, was dying in Tacoma, WA and wanted her to come to him. With nothing to hold her in Richmond, she...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Laura by: MissPlume

Shelves: alternate-history, fanfiction, kansas, military-sf, monsters, tacoma, seattle, zombies, steam-punk

Our POV character, Mercy, isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. She’s a bridge character; a southern woman married to a union soldier; a nurse who has ferried her share of people across the rainbow bridge, a daughter of a dead man who isn’t so much. And she’s goin’ on a road trip. Well. She’s heading from a Confederate hospital to Tacoma via dirigible, civilian train, and that train being pulled by the REALLY BIG armored engine of the title. With mysterious armored cars. And a mad scientist. And...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Nick Matthews rated it 4 of 5 stars

Cherie Priest’s novel Boneshaker was released in 2009, and was an instant hit for it’s dramatic engagement with many of the steampunk tropes. It was named Steampunk Book of the Year by Steampunk.com The cover of the book was self-consciously taking on the standard elements of steampunk: brass goggles, airships. The novel introduced us to Cherie Priest’s alternate history: The Clockwork Century, where the American civil war raged on for decades, and zombies roam the streets of Seattle. The book w...more Cherie Priest’s novel Boneshaker was released in 2009, and was an instant hit for it’s dramatic engagement with many of the steampunk tropes. It was named Steampunk Book of the Year by Steampunk.com The cover of the book was self-consciously taking on the standard elements of steampunk: brass goggles, airships. The novel introduced us to Cherie Priest’s alternate history: The Clockwork Century, where the American civil war raged on for decades, and zombies roam the streets of Seattle. The book was fun, but there were some valid criticisms about the branching narratives. The storyline of Briar Wilkes was considerably stronger than that of her son, Zeke.

In the sequel novel, Dreadnought, Priest uses a more traditional single-path narrative, and uses a strong female protagonist again. It’s a very liminal text, with many borders and boundaries being crossed. In the tale, nurse Mercy Lynch must travel from Virginia across the continent by airship, and steam locomotive to the west coast. Along the way, Union and Confederate soldiers and sympathizers interact with Texans, and Mexicans. As the main action of the novel takes place upon the Union locomotive Dreadnought, the tension increases steadily as they approach the mountain passages through the Rockies. It’s really effective plotting, as there are really no options for escaping from the oncoming battle. In these tight quarters, Priest still manages to weave together several interesting subplots, which link together with some introduced in Boneshaker.

While reading the novel, I quickly came to a point where I couldn’t put the book down. At an even 400 pages in length, that’s no mean feat. While Dreadnought may not have quite the same level of appeal as Boneshaker, especially for more youthful audiences, as Mercy Lynch is older than young Zeke Wilkes was, I think Dreadnought is ultimately a more finely crafted novel. The books can be read in either order, and while they do tie together, they are largely independent stories. I’m looking forward to reading more of Cherie Priest’s novels. While Boneshaker and Dreadnought are published by Tor, Priest has also written Clementine in this alternate history, which is published by Subterranean Press. (less)

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May 15, 2012 Melissa Proffitt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, steampunk, science-fiction, alternate-history, own

I had a hard time deciding how to rate this. Cherie Priest has a beautiful writing style and her alternate-history world interests me. I especially like the idea that the Civil War has stretched on for twenty-plus years, with all its implications. Mercy, the protagonist, is a Confederate nurse whose husband died in Andersonville (a Confederate POW camp for Union soldiers), and her perspective of the Union as the wrong side makes for a great story. "Wrong side," not "bad guys," because there are...more

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May 06, 2012 Linda Adams rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was my first steampunk novel. The story is set during the Civil War, and Mercy is a nurse in a hospital. She learns her husband has been killed at Andersonville. Alone, she sets off across the country on a train to Washington state to find her father. Along the way, the train is attacked, and Mercy has to track down what everyone is after.

I'm not a history buff, so I can't speak for the accuracy or portrayal of the Civil War history. But it felt to me realistic, and at the same time didn't...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Danielle Parker rated it 4 of 5 stars

Being such a huge fan, as a youngster, of Mervyn Peake, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, I thought I’d love the steampunk genre when it arrived. Being fond too of alternate history and Victorian in general, we were made for each other. So I thought in the first flush of enthusiasm. But steampunk’s a genre whose time seems now not so much passé as never really here. Cherie Priest’s competently written book, Dreadnought, exemplifies all the reasons why the sub-genre soon proved such a disappointment,...more Being such a huge fan, as a youngster, of Mervyn Peake, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, I thought I’d love the steampunk genre when it arrived. Being fond too of alternate history and Victorian in general, we were made for each other. So I thought in the first flush of enthusiasm. But steampunk’s a genre whose time seems now not so much passé as never really here. Cherie Priest’s competently written book, Dreadnought, exemplifies all the reasons why the sub-genre soon proved such a disappointment, at least to this reader.

In Dreadnought, Mercy Lynch, a newly widowed nurse working in a Confederate hospital in an alternate-history Civil War, gets a message from her long-lost, given-up-for-dead daddy. Daddy is dying. He wants to see his daughter before he expires. It won’t be an easy journey for Mercy. Daddy’s in Washington state, which means Mercy will have to travel via train and airship (crazy hydrogen-powered airship, no less) across a war-torn continent.

But Mercy gives up her job and embarks on her epic adventure. After her airship crashes in the front lines of battle, where giant iron men battle it out for Union and Confederacy, Mercy somehow finds herself on a special huge armored Union train, the Dreadnought. The Dreadnought is crowded with grim Union soldiers, and two of the cars in the train are in top-secret lockdown. Soon, both raiders and a speedy Confederate train, the Shenandoah, are in pursuit. The climactic battle happens as the two trains confront each other in the mountain passes of the Rockies.

Priest is a competent writer with an eye for believable settings and a gift for drawing secondary characters in sharp outline. But perhaps her competency only highlights the reasons steampunk soon lost my interest.

First of all, there’s the tired clichés. Mad Scientist? Check, got him. Steam powered iron behemoths? Check. Zombies? Check. Climactic battle against flesh-eating zombies? Double-check.
It’s a shame Priest limits herself to the familiar flourishes. She’s too good (though Priest’s penchant for disappearing characters left this book ending flat).

You can be forgiven for forgetting, after you’ve encountered the umpteenth steampunk example of flesh-eating zombies, iron engines and mad scientists, how innovative and visionary H. G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and Jules Verne really were. And even now, there’s nothing out there close to Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books. (Having read every massive tome in the series, I can almost say: what a relief).

But that, I suppose, is why steampunk ultimately failed to interest me. Fun escapist stuff, but I wish they’d stop repeating those zombies. Like the corsets so often found in its alternate-history pages, the genre is strait-jacketed into its limitations. Steampunk, unlike the writing of its quoted founding fathers, is more surface than substance, more cliché than visionary. Too bad, especially from a writer as good as Cherie Priest.

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Jan 28, 2012 Marlene rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read all my reviews at http://www.readingreality.net/

I snagged a copy of Dreadnought by Cherie Priest from the Tor booth at ALA Midwinter. (Many publishers give their books away the last day of the show.) Boneshaker, the first book in Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series was one of those books that after reading you sort of shove at people with the admonition "you just have to read this." Boneshaker was one of the books that makes steampunk so cool.

Back to Dreadnought. I picked up the print...more

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Dec 25, 2011 Melissa Huntley rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was better than Boneshaker. But it still wasn't great.

Took too long to get to the meat of the story (page 160 before we even get on the train) and once there, the plot was (literally) on rails. Several subplots (view spoiler)...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Michael Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars

If anything, I liked this one even more than Boneshaker, the first in Priest's Clockwork Century series, which is saying a lot.

I recently tweeted that there is always one line early on in a Cherie Priest novel that immediately grips me, and reminds me why I love her work so much. In Dreadnought it occurs in one of the very first chapters, when a new nursing recruit has come into the hellish makeshift hospital in which protagonist Mercy Lynch is efficiently caring for the Civil War wounded. Seei...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Tamara added it

Shelves: action, usa, civil-war-usa, north-america, steampunk, author-female, war, railway, travel, science, slavery, race, horror

I liked this one better than Boneshaker (which I enjoyed quite a bit,) it feels less YA, and the relative lack of zombies is just lovely. The wider, overlong-civil-war is more interesting and more immersive, and manages to occasionaly hit a real note of grandiose tragedy, as opposed to Seattle of the first book, which was bizarre enough to almost feel cartoonish at times. (To the point that the meeting between the two, at the very end of the book, seems disjointed.)

The racial politics, while no...more

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Sep 03, 2011 Andrew Neal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Looks like I skipped the second book, but as each one focuses on a different character that doesn't seem to matter.

Anyway, I liked this better than the first one. I thought it was a fun, light read, and I liked the main character. Even considering that, I had two problems with the book, but they weren't enough to ruin it:

1. The explanation of how in the midst of this seemingly never-ending civil war, almost all the southern states had freed their slaves just seemed way off to me. I mean, I'm a w...more

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Aug 16, 2011 J.C. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Whether you’re familiar with steampunk or not, this is an author who represents it so well, I have no problem recommending her novels as an introduction to this sub-genre of science fiction.

The unique aspect, for me at least, with these novels is the horror element. Who thought zombies could work so well in an alternative history novel? Well, it does!

Boneshaker and Dreadnought are books 1 and 3 respectively in the Clockwork Century stories. Unfortunately, the second Clementine, a short novel, is...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Mary rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: steampunk

Stupendous. World building par excellence. I am a little blurry, because I just spent the last few hours on a monstrous, juggernaut (really!) train in an alternate 19th century America, and I have not yet brought my head back to the 21st century. Cherie Priest steals my heart and head every time I dip into one of her novels. Her character Mercy Lynch is as stalwart as Briar Wilkes from the novel Boneshaker. We see more of this world in this book--traveling from the South across the West and arri...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Theresa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Over the last two years I have had the pleasure of picking up the latest zombie/steampunk fusion by Cherie Priest as a birthday present to myself, and after reading this year's installment, Dreadnought, I can only hope that I'll be able to celebrate a few more birthdays with one of her books tucked under my arm.

"Dreadnought" is a loose sequel to Priest's last book "Boneshaker," with the characters of the previous installment only showing up as we near the end if this chapter. Both books take pla...more Over the last two years I have had the pleasure of picking up the latest zombie/steampunk fusion by Cherie Priest as a birthday present to myself, and after reading this year's installment, Dreadnought, I can only hope that I'll be able to celebrate a few more birthdays with one of her books tucked under my arm.

"Dreadnought" is a loose sequel to Priest's last book "Boneshaker," with the characters of the previous installment only showing up as we near the end if this chapter. Both books take place during the Civil War, though they are written in an alternative history in which both steampunk mechanicals and zombies exist. While the story in "Boneshaker" used the Civil War conflict as a fringe element to its story, "Dreadnought" plunks its characters right in the middle of the bloody conflict.

Mercy Lynch is a nurse at a Confederate hospital in Richmond Virginia when Clara Barton (the founder of the Red Cross) comes with the news that Mercy's husband, who happens to have been fighting for the Union, has died in POW camp. Distraught, but too busy to be allowed to grieve, Mercy has no other plan than to keep on patching together the young men who survive long enough to end up on her care. But when word comes that her long absent father has become ill, and may not live, Mercy decides to undertake the incredibly dangerous cross-country journey to the West Coast to be reunited with her father.

The only way to get across the war-torn countryside is by dirigible and boat, and once Mercy crosses the Mississippi she faces the even more daunting prospect of finishing her journey on the Dreadnought; a fearsome, armored, steam-powered war engine built by the Union that happens to be her only real means of getting across country in time to see her father.

But the Dreadnought is more of a challenge than Mercy could ever have dreamed as she soon finds out that it is hauling a secret cargo that has brought it to the attention of the Confederacy -- which is bent on stopping the Dreadnought and stealing the mysterious cargo even if it means killing every civilian on board.

There is a particular genius to combining steampunk with the Wild West and it's far-and-away my favorite aspect of "Dreadnought." There's something about a corset-wearing heroine with a pair of pistols on her hip, and her earthy view of the world, that tickles my fancy. Combined with the fast-paced setting of a speeding train, and a few zombies thrown in, and it's hard to go wrong.

Yet, as good as the setting is, Priest really shines when it comes to creating her lead characters. Mercy Lynch is everything you'd hope for in a leading-lady from the Old West. She's smart and has just the right amount of sass to deal with the upper-crust as well as a curmudgeonly Texas Ranger. She inserts herself into the thick of things because she's the most capable person in the room-- though it should be noted that her curiosity also gets her into a fair amount of trouble. Mercy is also our eyes into a world of shifting values and obvious racial tensions, but Priest has a deft touch that doesn't ignore any topic while still avoiding any kind of preachiness.

If I have any critique of "Dreadnought" (and I do have to give a slight edge to "Boneshaker" as the better book of the two) it's that the steampunk elements are not prominent enough throughout the book. The early chapters have just enough to keep the idea afloat with some unique war machines and the requisite trip in an airship, but the descriptions are not terribly detailed. The Dreadnought is intended to be the centerpiece of steampunk machinery as far as the story goes, but trains were not particularly unusual in the Old West and simply adding some formidable armor isn't quite enough to give it a proper steampunk feel. "Boneshaker" had the smaller, more intricate gadgets involving goggles and mechanical arms and I missed the detail this time around. Additionally I think a few of the supporting characters could have benefited from fuller back-stories, but overall the narrative doesn't really suffer as the dialog is brisk and clever and easy to connect to. Priest also does a good job of continuing the storyline involving the zombies, though the progression of that story moves significantly slower (in a good way) than what I've come to expect from this particular plot device-- which I like because it isn't allowed to overwhelm the story (no pun intended).

"Dreadnought" is a worthy successor to the terrific "Boneshaker." I look forward to the continuing story of Mercy Lynch and the cast of characters that are re-introduced at the end of the book --- not to mention the great combination of the Wild West, steampunk and zombies that Priest has melded together in such a fun way. It definitely makes my list of recommended books.
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Jul 24, 2011 Andromeda M31 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dreadnought details the journey of a young Civil War Nurse from one coast of America to the other. As this is an alternate history, steam punk inspired book, this travel entails dirigibles, diesel or steam powered mecha, deadly armored trains, and zombies. The Civil War has been waged for 15 years in this universe, and was not, as you would have supposed, fought over Slavery, but State's Rights.

I haven't read the other books in the series, and perhaps that's my mistake. The reason for the long...more Dreadnought details the journey of a young Civil War Nurse from one coast of America to the other. As this is an alternate history, steam punk inspired book, this travel entails dirigibles, diesel or steam powered mecha, deadly armored trains, and zombies. The Civil War has been waged for 15 years in this universe, and was not, as you would have supposed, fought over Slavery, but State's Rights.

I haven't read the other books in the series, and perhaps that's my mistake. The reason for the long term duration of the Civil War is never explained, and slavery is never brought up until a hundred pages in when Nurse Mercy meets a black woman on a train. I felt that was a really glaring error and spoiled the first half of the book for me. Maybe it's too PC for me to expect any Civil War story to have black characters.

I wasn't filled with awe, nor did I tremble with fear during the descriptions of these secret-weapon locomotives, because well, they're TRAINS. Blow up the track. Done.

Although there's lots of action, and Nurse Mercy undergoes increasingly bizarre adventures, the book drags. The climax to the over arching mystery that follows Mercy through out her journey is as obvious as a freight train. Mercy is intelligent and spunky, but she doesn't seem to have much of a personality beyond her willingness to curse in extreme situations. And as there are no other consistent characters throughout her story, it's hard to care how the story will end.

The last quarter of the book has a pretty enthusiastic train race and shootout, but there's no emotional punch to the end of the story, and Mercy walks in to what feels like the next book of the series in the final pages. There's no emotional impact when she meets her father, and the author cuts the scene off abruptly. After all, that's not what the book was about, it was about the setup for the NEXT book. Only, I don't actually care to see how this Civil War works itself out, because there were no characters for me to care about in THIS book. (less)

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Jul 05, 2011 drey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads, steampunk

Dreadnought is another Cherie Priest steampunk novel with a strong woman protagonist. Mercy Lynch is a nurse at the Robertson Hospital in Richmond, Virginia in 1867. She's just found out that her husband is dead when her father summons her out to Seattle. With nothing left for her in Virginia, Mercy packs her meager belongings and heads out to see him before he dies.

The adventure starts pretty much as soon as Mercy leaves. She's in the frontline of the war, and has to try to stay ahead of the fi...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, read-2011

4.5 Stars

This is a very different book from the first two in the Clockwork Century series. This is a tight, fast paced, and narrow story about a nurse named Mercy making her way across a civil war torn country.

Mercy is a strong and likable protagonist who is brave and good at her job as a nurse. She gets the news that her husband, whom she hs not been seen for over 2 years has died in a prison camp. Meanwhile, her estranged father has contacted her about needing to see her because he is on his d...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Jaz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Action! Action! Action!

For me, Cherie Priest can deliver the goods. And the goods are awesome and full of much win. I appreciate the fact that Priest takes liberties with history because she uses that artistic license thoughtfully. Her female lead in this, like BONESHAKER, is engaging and strong. To me she is a believable independent woman, with typical, if not standard, misgivings and qualms. The journey is the story and what a helluva a journey! A barrage of characters that were sometimes unde...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Nicholas Karpuk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If there is a missed opportunity in Dreadnought, it's to address the undead Mexicans as "zombres." Other than that, I have very few complaints about the story.

I have trouble reconciling the quality of this book. If Cherie Priest had only written three books, it would seem as though she started learning to write a novel with Boneshaker and finally got the hang of it with Dreadnought. The fact that she apparently as an entire book series before these worries me greatly. I doubt I will ever read th...more

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Feb 05, 2011 K. Bird rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just like Boneshaker, this addition to Priest's Clockwork Century series was fabulously constructed and peopled by endlessly fascinating alternate historical scenarios and characters, but ultimately left me feeling like I'd just met someone at a party who could be my best friend but who up and left the table with no explanation or forwarding address.

Vinita "Mercy" Lynch, nee Swakhammer, is a nurse at the famous Robertson hospital on the Confederacy side of the prolonged alternate history version...more Just like Boneshaker, this addition to Priest's Clockwork Century series was fabulously constructed and peopled by endlessly fascinating alternate historical scenarios and characters, but ultimately left me feeling like I'd just met someone at a party who could be my best friend but who up and left the table with no explanation or forwarding address.

Vinita "Mercy" Lynch, nee Swakhammer, is a nurse at the famous Robertson hospital on the Confederacy side of the prolonged alternate history version of the Civil War central to Priest's story.

Amidst the quite believable and vividly described gore and medical care of that time, Mercy gets a telegram telling her the estranged father (Jeremiah Swakhammer from Boneshaker) is dying and wants her to travel to his death bed in the wild west Seattle to see him.

She does, starting a quite action-packed journey by dirigible, boat, and finally the Union's super-massive attack train; the Dreadnought.

But the Dreadnought is carring two secret cargos, a Texian Ranger on a mission to find out what happened to some missing Mexicans, a crazy and ruthless scientist, and various soldiers and passengers whom Mercy must protect and treat, all the while hiding her own Southern origins.

From the moment Mercy gets on the dirigible on her first leg of her journey, she is surrounded by fascinating characters, some we've encountered before (nice to see Briar Wilkes and son), some new, but all who seem to have backstory chock full of amazing alternate US history that Priest has developed.

And herein lies my dissatisfaction with this series. I'm greedy. I want more. I don't want just a hint about why a vivacious young lady is saddled with an addled old aunt and is prejudiced but handy with a gun....I want the character's past to interact with Mercy in such a way as to leave a lasting impression, either on Mercy or me. I want who the character is to have more weight than the actions the person takes in the story.

Mercy's compatriots come and go abruptly, even when there are unresolved mysteries or feelings, especially at the end of the story right before she meets her father. And Mercy seems untouched by the stories of her fellow travelers as much as by the gore and wounds she is continuously trying to heal.

This series is a wild ride of history, zombies, believable historical details, and terrific characters, but it lacks an emotionally satisfying depth for me.

That doesn't mean I won't keep an eye out for the next one, though :)

This Book's Food Designation Rating: Turkey Bacon soy cheese cheddar burger on a whole wheat bun, dripping with flavor that makes you salivate just looking at it. It leaves you full and satisfied when you're finished, but feeling like you're missing something important you can't quite put a finger on.

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Feb 02, 2011 Andrea Blythe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Mercy Lynch works as a nurse at Robertson Hospital, where they heal more patients than they loose. She will will patch up anyone put in front of her, whether Confederate, Yankee, or Reb. In rapid succession Mercy finds out that her husband died in the war, and her father, who she hasn't seen since she was girl, is out west in Tacoma on his deathbed. Suddenly free of ties, she decides to make the dangerous trek across the continent to reach her father.

On her way, she finds herself aboard a train...more

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About Cherie Priest

CHERIE PRIEST is the author of twelve novels, including the steampunk pulp adventures Dreadnought and Boneshaker. Boneshaker was nominated for both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award; it was a PNBA Award winner, and winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. Cherie also wrote Fathom and the Eden Moore series from Tor (Macmillan), and her novellas Clementine, Dreadful Skin and Those...more

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Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Eden Moore, #1)

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“It's funny what they say about men in uniform - how people think women just can't resist 'em. Fact is, I think we're just pleased to see a man groomed, bathed, and wearing clothes that fit him.” — 43 people liked it

“And people tended not to bother a woman with a book.” — 9 people liked it

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Dreadnought (The Clockwork Century #3)

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